Under the RAKOLL® brand name, H.B. Fuller sells woodworking adhesives for many different applications world-wide.

Emulsion adhesives:

For sheet and veneer applications, solid wood, assembly, adhesives for waterproof bonding, etc.
Emulsion adhesives usually polyvinyl acetate (PVAC) based or as PVAC copolymerizate.
H.B. Fuller operates its own polymerization lines at several European locations.

Hot melt adhesives:

Hot melt adhesives for bonding a wide range of materials at straight edges, softforming, postforming, profile wrapping, etc.
Hot melt adhesives based on all common raw material components such as EVA, polyamide, polyolefins and polyurethane.
Available as filled or unfilled systems.
Membrane press adhesives:

Polyurethane based emulsion adhesives for membrane press bonding.

RAKOLL® woodworking adhesives give you the peace of mind of many years' experience and the innovative power of continuous research and development.

Get the Rakoll Advantage

In 1865, the company was established to produce leather and hide glues by tanner Heinrich Wilhelm Ratjen. This was the beginning of what was to be a chequered company history. Heinrich Peschken, a Bremen chemist, acquired the company in 1911 and made his nephew Walter Peschken a partner in 1932. Ernst Stewner, the brother-in-law of Walter Peschken (who had left in 1934), became a partner in 1945 and played a major part in the company's further development. The spectacular rise of Heinr. Ratjen, Leim- und Gelatinefabriken began after the war. As its German name suggests, the company had focused until that time on producing animal glues and industrial and edible gelatine. It now turned to developing water-based synthetic resin adhesives, or "white glues". Some years later, a polymerization line was built to produce the synthetic resin emulsions needed for these adhesives on site.

The 1960’s brought further growth. New adhesives using other raw materials were added, including film adhesives and hot melts. The company expanded, entered foreign markets, establishing subsidiaries in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, and licensing its products.

The RAKOLL® brand

Exactly four years later, the company was taken over by Schering AG, Berlin. In 1971, Schering merged with Isar-Chemie, Munich, to create ISAR-RAKOLL® CHEMIE. Over the years that followed, their Nienburg site was systematically expanded to become the main production location of the ISAR-RAKOLL® CHEMIE group. The company then changed hands once more in 1982 when H.B. Fuller Company, St. Paul (Minnesota), acquired the entire ISAR-RAKOLL® CHEMIE group.

Since then, the H.B. Fuller Nienburg location is the European production facility focussed on manufacturing the majority of the Rakoll® water-based and hot melt adhesives. And in the late 1990's we opened the European Technology Centre for woodworking adhesives. This unqiue centre has been providing a valuable service to our customers for more than a decade.

The Technology Centre is equipped with industrial machinery for edgebanding, softforming, direct postforming and wrapping, membrane pressing and a processing centre. This enables us to performance test our adhesives on our customers’ materials without any interruption to their production process. And, if a customer is considering changing materials, the first step in the suitability can be evaluated at our Technical Centre before a new purchase decision is made.

Our Technology Centre houses modern conferencing and training capabilities for use by, employees and customers. It is both an adhesive academy for customers, industry partners and business associates such as distributors and an in-house training facility for H.B. Fuller employees to learn more about our customers, products and industries.

The Technology Centre offers customers the following areas of performance evaluation:

Markets and Applications - Whether your market is in packaging, paper converting, woodworking, general assembly, personal hygiene, consumer adhesives, solar or the dozens of other industries we serve, we are dedicated to formulating innovative industrial adhesives, sealants, coatings and specialty materials that help you succeed.

Brands and Affiliates - Overcome your obstacles by partnering with our specialized brands and affiliates that bring in- depth knowledge of your industry to address the challenges you face. Our specialized brands include, Advantra®,Full-Care™, Clarity™, Flextra®, Clean Melt® and Rakoll®. Also, learn more about our global affiliates and how they can help move your business forward.

For over 125 years, H.B. Fuller has been a leading global industrial adhesives manufacturer. Through our shared vision, strong leadership and spirit of collaboration, we consistently deliver adhesive technology that gives rise to your cutting-edge innovations and enhanced products. We apply our knowledge, experience and ingenuity to creating smarter products that help you go the distance with your projects. Thinking differently and partnering to solve our customers’ toughest problems is H.B. Fuller’s passion. Our comprehensive adhesive technology portfolio helps improve wide-ranging production processes from closing a carton to facilitating high tech solar panel manufacturing.

H.B. Fuller’s enduring pledge to serve the community as a responsible corporate citizen is a great source of pride. We recognize the world’s finite resources require us to minimize our impact on the environment while simultaneously creating value for our customers. As such, we maintain a strong focus on optimizing our facilities for efficient operations and engaging our employees to be knowledgeable about and responsible for safety, wellness, and reaching sustainability targets.

Moreover, in recognition of our long-standing commitment to promoting responsible, ethical business practices, H.B. Fuller has earned the coveted Ethics Inside® Certification from the Ethisphere Institute. As a leading global industrial adhesives manufacturer, H.B. Fuller is focused on perfecting state-of-the-art adhesives, sealants and other specialty chemicals with best-in-class practices that improve the quality of our products and the lives of those who put them to use.

Enhance your projects today with our world-class adhesive products and discover why we are a leader in global industrial adhesives with an unwavering commitment to our customers’ success.